I refuse to be mediocre

Caught completely off guard, utterly unprepared. 

This must be the only time Sam was entirely without defense, aside from when he first encountered Angel.

He looked at the woman before him, Alice was still smiling. Even just two minutes earlier, the two could be described as incredibly close, their interaction brimming with ambiguity. 

Yet, in the blink of an eye, the atmosphere shifted dramatically, becoming dangerous, eerie, and even suffocatingly tense. 

Alice stared straight into his eyes, any attempt Sam made to avoid her gaze now seemed like it would expose a fatal flaw.

Sam wondered, where had he slipped up? That couldn't be right; his performance had been flawless, neither overdone nor forced. 

He had carefully thought through every move, including everything that happened tonight. But why would she suddenly say something like this?